“The news industry is imploding,” exclaimed ASU Cronkite teacher Tim McGuire. The Internet is taking over journalism. Newspaper stock has plummeted and in turn, papers have been given little wiggle room.

Although this is not reassuring news for journalists, one thing must be kept in mind: do the right thing.

“Any responsible media outlet should pride itself on standards.”

With gossip bloggers like Perez Hilton, ethics are not a primary concern, but they should be. News is being distributed every hour of the day, and incorrect news travels much quicker than correct news.

The reason is because incorrect news takes fewer hours than correct news. Tim McGuire speaks about four major ethical challenges: speed, celebrity and budget squeezes.

Speed is a direct counter to truth. Since the truth may take weeks to surface, speed is a weight. When people want news almost immediately after it happens, time is of the essence. Though a rumor may be easier to publish than the truth, it is important to not compromise standards.

Celebrity hinders minimizing harm. When someone is an identifiable figure in the United States, the rush to get “dirt” on him or her is a never-ending task. The ethical thing to do is not run nasty things about them just because one is able to do so. Anytime something slanderous is said, make sure there is the name of who said it. Anyone can complain anonymously.

Independence is hard to keep with budget squeezes. Don’t publish an article because of bribes or pressure. News should come from the reporter. A reporter is not a puppet of a larger corporation.

The truth is that if a breaking story is on a major news site, everyone will believe it. Compromising ethics only brings dysfunction to the newly uneducated readers of the article.

According to McGuire, “News can change how people think about things.”